Hello GoWest
We are in the same position as you. We have 3 Zwartbles that are simply pets. They are now 10 and 11 years old and have been with us all their lives. They are spoilt, pampered and cost us a small fortune but we get immense pleasure from them, love spending time with them and always try to do the best for them.
I have been following this forum for a long time, but have never posted before as I have not felt my comments would have added value. However, in this case I do have some experience which I would like to share with you.
Until recently we had 4 Zwartbles. About a year ago one of them, Amy, started limping. We went through all the usual routines but there was nothing to see and no infection. Our excellent vet manipulated and felt her joints and said that she had arthritis. It upset me to hear that there are no long term pain killers for sheep, but we tried her on a 2 week course of Bute. I really wanted this to work, but I don't think it did. Well, at least, she didn't stop limping, but it might have relieved some of the pain. Then we tried an injection of Voren, a non steroidal anti inflammatory, but that didn't seem to help. The vet said that there really were no further medical options, and even if the ones we had tried had worked they weren't a long term solution because of their side effects.
I then went into research mode and we decided to try some alternative treatments. I know this is a contentious topic, but in my case I wanted to believe in it, and we wanted to be able to say that we had tried everything for Amy. I found a homeopathic vet who came to the house on 3 occasions over 2 months and gave her laser treatment. It is like acupuncture, but with a laser not needles. He also prescribed some homeopathic remedies which we gave her daily for a few months. I suppose I could try and convince myself that this had some healing effect, but if I'm honest I don't think it did.
All throughout this time Amy was her normal self - happy, bright, alert, eating, coming over for cuddles, not losing condition and enjoying life as usual. So I decided to try something else. I found a herbal supplement containing Glucosamine and MSM, amongst other things and we started her on that.
After a couple of months we had cause to take one of our other sheep to the Royal Veterinary College and whilst there I spoke to their vet about Amy and her arthritis. He said that he had had good results with aspirin in an arthritic goat and suggested we try Amy on that. Amy was a big sheep, around 90kg, so her dose was very large. It isn't a long term treatment because the risk is damage to the stomach, but as a painkiller I think it helped. It wasn't easy though - nowhere would sell us more than 32 aspirin at a time and we needed to build up quite a stock for her dose. We got the dispersible ones and put them in a drenching dosing syringe and administered them that way.
We carried on with the aspirin for another couple of months, before taking the heartbreaking decision one day last November to have Amy put to sleep.
As others have said, you will know when the time is right. We knew we could not let Amy go through another winter so we always had that deadline looming over us. The risk that she would have stumbled, fallen over, not been able to get up and lain freezing out in the cold was unacceptable. Towards the end we were shutting her away overnight in a stable, but this isn't normal sheep behaviour and her friends stayed close by her. Towards the end Amy didn't move around as much, she grazed on her knees and shuffled about on her knees. If there was 'danger' like a gun shot from the nearby shoot, she was too slow to flock together with the others for security. The decision would have been so much easier had she been a poorly sheep. But she absolutely wasn't. She was still bright eyed, alert, friendly, happy, in good condition and with her head held high. I know that sheep hide the fact that they're weak to avoid being preyed on, but I do think you'll know when the time is right.
We woke up one morning to a lovely sunny day, spent all morning outside with Amy. She was laying down and we sat with her, talking to her, cuddling her, brushing her and feeding her far too many treats. She loved it. Then we phoned the vet. He came within an hour and by then we had her in her stable. She was laying down with me sitting with her. He gave her a quick jab of sedative and after about 10 minutes Amy drifted off to sleep in my arms with me talking to her to her the whole time. Then the vet administered the final injection and she was gone within seconds.
So I know this is a bit long, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no magic cure for pain in sheep. You try what you can and if you're lucky you strike upon something that works. The downside is that the side effects of that treatment could make it not a long term option anyway. And the cost is something not to be taken lightly. I would have tried anything for Amy, and hope that I did. But did anything cure her pain? No. Did anything relieve her pain? I don't know. But I do know that for 11 months after she first showed signs of limping she lived a happy life, doing what she liked to do. Maybe the end would have come sooner without the things we tried.
I have delayed posting this reply because I have been worried about other people's opinions. They matter to me, although I wish they didn't! This is what we did, I think rightly, based on our personal circumstances. If it helps you, GoWest, then I'm glad and I wish you all the best.
Fiona